Variable-speed repeating mechanism



A. DQTRENQR VARIABLE SPEED REPEATING amciumzsld Dec; 6 1927.

Filed March 29 1920 2 Sheets-Sheet l .EzmEE NN INVENTOR Kmbwmmut HIS f5NORA H Dec. 6, 1927.

' A. D. TRENOR VARIABLE SPEED REPEATINGIECHANISM Filed-March 29. 1920 2Sheets-Sheet 2 [NI/EN TOR His ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 6, 1927..

UNITED STATES ALBERT D. TRENOR, OF NEW YORK, N. 'Y.,

1,651,852 PATENT OFFICE.

ASSIGNOR TO JOHN; HAYS HAMMOND, J3, F GLOUCESTER. MASSACHUSETTS.

vAnrABLE-srnnn nnrna'rme mncnamsia.

Application filed March 29,

a motion repeating device, and means controlled by the motion repeatingdevice to vary the voltage of the current elivered to the motor; and toprovide other improvements as will appear hereinafter.

Fig. 1, represents diagrammatically one form of motion repeating deviceembodying the present invention. 7

Fig. 2, represents one face of a contact segment forming a part of theinvention.

Fig. 3, represents one face of a disc forming a part of the mechanismwhich includes the contact segment. I v

Fig. 4, represents the opposite face of the contactasegment shown inFig. 2. 1

Fig. 5, represents the opposit face of the disc shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 6, represents diagrammatically another form of the presentinvention, and Fig.7, represents a detail ofthe commutator mechanism andits connections.

Referring to Fig- 1 of the drawings, one embodiment of this invention\comprisesa, system includinga rotary shaft 10 supported by bearings 11.This shaftltl is arranged to be rotated either manually or. otherwise ineitherdirection and either .at a' constant or at a variable rate.Rigidly secured to the shaft 10 is agear wheel 12 which meshes with apinion 13 securedto a rotary shaft 14 which actuates an electricaltransmitter 15 of any well known form. For repeating the motion of thetransmitter'shaft 14 the transmitter 15 is connected by a four wirecable 16 including a return wire containing a battery 17 and a switch 18to an electrical repeater 20 of anywell known form.

For increasing the, effectiveness ofthe repeater 20 the shaft 21 of therepeater. 20 carries a disk 22 of insulating materialupon which aremounted two spring contacts 23 and 24. The contact 23 cooperates with acontact segment carried by a disk 31 of insulatingmaterial. Thecontactse ment30 is shown in the form of a semi-circle but could be madein any other desired shape, as will appear hereinafter. The other part1920. Serial No. 369,782.

of the circle is formed by an insulating segment 32 which engages thecontact 23 when it 1s not on the segment 30. The contact 24 cooperateswith two segments 35 and 36 -mounted upon the insulating disk 31 andseparated from each other by two small in 'sulating segments 37 and 38,the former 37 of which is slightly wider than the bearing surface of thebrush 24 so that when the brush 24 is upon the segments 37 no currentwill flow through thebrush, and the disk 31 may be rotated through asmall arc with the brush in engagement with the segment 37 withouthaving the brush 2 L engage either of the conducting segments 35 or 36.The seg-- ment 38 may be as wide as the segment 37 or of a dnferentwidth. The contact 23 is con- 'nected to a slip ring 40 on the back ofthe disk 22 and the contact 24 is connected to a 'slip ring 41 on theback of the disk 22.

These slip rings cooperate with brushes43 and 44 respectively. Thesegment 30 is connected to-a slip ring upon the back of the disk 31 andthe segment 35 and segment 36 are respectively connected to the sliprings 51(and 52 on the'back of the disk 31, which is rigidly secured toa shaft 61 ich is part of the armature of a motor 62 and which issupported in bearings 63. The slip rings 50, 51 and52- cooperate withthebrushes 55, 56 and 57 respectively. Rigidly secured to the shaft 61is a pinionf65' which meshes with a gear 66,- this gear being rigidlysecured to a rotary shaft 67 which supported in fixedbearings 68., Theratiov between the gears 65 and. 66 isthe' same as the-ratio between the.gears 13 and 12, so that theshaft 67 will be rotated at the same rateand in the same direction as the shaft 10 which actuates thetransmitter'15. The shaft 67 may be utilizedfor any well known suitablepurpose, as for instance to rotate a turret of a battle ship, or aSearchlight or any other obectsl For controlling the motor 62 the brush43 is connected by awire to one ole of a battery 76, the other pole ofwhic is connected by,a wire 77 to one end of a 0011 of a relay '78, theother end of which is connected bya wire 81 to the brush 55. The brush4.4 is connected by a wire 85 to one pole of a battery 86, the otherpole of whichis connected by wires 88 and 89 to corre-- are connect-edby two wires 95and 96 to the two brushes 56 and 57 respectively. Thearmature 100 of the relay 91 is pivoted at 101 and normally is held in'an open position by a spring 102. The armature 100 carries twocontactors 103 and 104 which are insulated from the armature butconnected'by flexible coiled wires 105 and 106 to two wires 108 and :109respectively. These wires 108 and 109 are connected by flexible coiledwires to two contactors 111 and 112 carried a by means of a spring 127."ll hen in 1ts open position it makes contact with a fixed contact 130which is connected bya wire 131 to any suitable point 132 of a battery135. When in its closed osition, the armature 126 engages the forecontact 136 which is connected by a wire 137. to any other suitablepoint ,138 on the battery 135. The points 132 and 138 are so chosen thatwhen the armature 126 engages. the contact 130 a current .ofpredetermined comparatively low voltage will act to rotate the motor 62at a comparatively slow rate and when the'armature 126 engages thecontact 136 a current of predetermined comparatively high voltagewill'act to drive the motor at a correspondingly higher rate. Thecontact points 121 and 122 are c onnected by a wire 140 to one side ofthe battery 135. From this side- T of the battery a wire 141 goes tofafield connection 142- on the motor 62 and from the opposite side of thebattery 135 a wire 143 goes to the other field connection 144 of themotor 62. The wire 108 goes to the armature connection 147 on the motor62 and the wire 109 goes to the other armature connection 148 of themotor 62. I

In the operation of the form of this in vention shown in the drawings,the switch being open'and the shafts 10 and 67 having been givenrespectively suitable initial .ad-

justrnents' rotatively and the disk 22 having been turned manually tobring the contact point 24 on the insulating segment 37, the switch 18is then closed and then upon the rotating of the shaft 10 in a clockwisedirection as viewed from below,'and through any given angle at a ratewithin the limit of speed of the shaft 67 when the motor 62 is energizedat the lower voltage, the shaft 14 will be turned accordingly in anopposite direction which will act through the transmitter 15 andrepeater 20 to turn the disk 22 through the same anglethat he shaft 14was turned and in the same direction. This movement of the disk 22 willmove contact ture 126, the wire 125, contact 120, contactor 103,v wire105, and wire 108 to the armature terminal 147, returning from thearmature terminal 148 through the wire 109, wire 106, contactor 104,contact 121, wire 140 to the battery 135. This will cause "the motor 62to rotate in such adirection that the insulated segment 37 will be movedup to the contact 24 and when the latter is onthis segment 37 thecircuit through the relay 91 will be broken, thus ole-energizing themotor 6 2 and allowing the armature to assume its initial osition, whichwill break the armature circuit 147148 of the motor 62, thus stopping.the motor. The shaft 67 will therefore have been turned through the sameangle and in the same direction as the shaft 10 was turned. Uponcontinuing the rotation of the shaft 10 in the same direction and at arate within the lower limit of speed of the shaft 67 determined bythelower voltage of the motor 62, the operation justdescribe d will becontinued and the rotary movement of the shaft 10 will be repeated bythe I shaft 67.

If, however, the shaft 10 is rotated at a higher rate than-justdescribed the disk-22 will be rotated so far ahead of the disk 31 thatthe contact 23 will make contact with the segment 30, thus allowing thecurrent from the battery 76 to flow through the wire 75, brush 55 andwire 81 to the, relay 78 and wire 77 to the battery 76. This willenergize relay 78 and pull down the armature.

126, thus closing the circuit through the contact 136. This will allowenergy from the point 13801 the battery 135 to pass along the wire 137,contact 136, armature 126, to the wire and thence, as already described,

through the armature of the motor 62 back to the other side of thebattery 135, thus increasing the voltage of the current actuating themotor and thus accelerating the speed of the motor so that it will drivethe shaft 67 at corresponding higher rate. Therefore,

while the shaft 1O is being rotated slowly,

will be replaced by the current of higher voltage to rotate the motor 62at a correspondingly higher rate. By suitably proportioning the battery135 and arranging the two points 132 and'138, this motor 62' may becaused to be rotated selectively at any two desired rates. By adding oneor more relays corresponding to the relay 78 supplying the motor 62 isso selected that while sufficient to rotate the motor slowly it will notbe sufficient to cause the motor to carry either of the insulatingsegments 37,

or 38 across the brush 24 to such an extent as to reverse the motor,while the shaft 10 ;is being ,rotated slowly and within a predeterminedrate in a direction opposite to the direction of rotation of the motor;and the high voltage is preferably so selected that while'suflicient'torotate the motor at a 7 rate corresponding to, a predetermined rela- Imake contact with the segment 36, energiz-- tively high rate of rotationof the shaft 10,

it will not. be sufiicient to cause a reversal of the motor while theshaft 10 is being rotated continuously in either direction approximatelya t the predetermined relatively high rate; I p l If, however, theshaft10 is rotated as herei-nbefore described but inthe opposite direction,the shaft 21 will also be turned accordinglyiand the spring contact 24will then ing the. rela through the armature of the motor 62 so that thecurrent flows through thearmature in a direction opposite to thatthrough which it flowed when the relay "91 was operating, thus reversingthe motor 62fand rotating the shaft 67 accordingly. In this case thespeed of the motor 62 will also be controlled in a manner similar tothat just described.

A modified form ,of this inventionis shown in Figs. 6 and 7, and inclues a shaft 10, gear 12, pinion 13, transmit er 15'and repeater 2 0,shaft 61, motor 62, .bearings 63, pin1onl65, gear 66, shaft 67 andbearings 68, constructed and arranged as hereinbefore described.litigidly secured to the shaft 21 of the repeater 20 is an arm 175rotatably supported in a fixed bearing'176. This arm carries two sliprings 177 and 178 which co-' operate with two brushes 180 and 181respectively. The arm 175 also carries two brushes182 and 183 which areconnected by wires 184 and 185 to the sli rings 178 and 177respectively. The brus es 182 and 183 cooperate with a commutator 190made of insulating material and carried by the end of the shaft 6L Thebrushes 182 and 183'c0operate ,with resistances 191, 192 and 193, 194respectively. The resistances 191 and 194 are electrically connectedtogether on the under side of the commutator 190 (see Fig.7) and areconnected by a wire 200 to slip ring 202 fixed upon the commutator 190.The resistances 192 and 193 are con nected together on the under side ofthe commutator 190 and by a wire 201 to the slip ring 203-fixed upon thecommutator. Two brushes 205 and 206 cooperate with the slip rings 202and 203.respecti-vely. The brush 205 is connected by a wire 208 to oneside of the battery-135 and the brush 206 .is connected by a Wire 209'to a suitable point 210 of the battery 135. The brush 180. is connectedby a wire 212 to the armature terminal 148 and the brush 181 isconnected by a wire 213 to ,the armature terminal 147. The fieldterminals 142 and 144 are conwith Fig. 1 and the arm 175 is so,positioned as to bring the brushes between and out of ,engagementfwiththe free ends of the, res sistances 191, 192 and 193, 194 respectively.

The switch 18 is then closed and the shaft 10 is then rotated. If nowthe shaft 10 is rot'ated through a definite angle in a clockwisedirection as viewed from below it will, as previously described, rotatethe shaft 21 a corresponding amount but in an opposite direction. Thisrotates the arn1 175. and moves the brushes 182 and 183 so that theymake I contact with the resistances 191 and 193, respectively, whichcauses the current to flow from the point 210 of battery 135 through thewire 209to the brush 206,-s1ip ring 202, wire 200, resistance 191, brush182, wire 184,

slip'.ring 178, brush 181, and wire 213.

through the. armature of the motor 62,

through the wire 212,brush 180, wire 185,

, brush 183, resistance 193, wire 201, slip ring 203, brush 205,- wire208 w the battery 135.

This causes the motor 62 to rotate in such a direction that thecommutator 190 is forced to followthe brushes 182 and 183. When theshaft 60 has thus been rotated through the same angle as the shaft 21the brushes 182 and 183 will beagain between and out of engagement withthe free ends of the resistances 191, 192, and 193,194, and the circuitthrough the armature of the motor 62 will be broken, thus bringing themotor to rest. I

When the shaft 10 is rotated at a constant sp%d, the shaft 67 will berotated in the same direction, but if at any time the motor 62 does notrotate quite fast enough to keep the shaft 67 in synchronism withtheishaft 109 then the brushes 18.2 and 183 W111 be moved'relativeto theresistances 191 and 193 so as to decrease the ellective lengths of theseresistances, thus increasing the. voltage on the armature of the motor62 proportionally, and consequently causing the j armature to rotate ata proportionally higher speed and thus keep the shaft 67 in synwillcause the motor 62 to rotate the shaft 67 at approximately the samespeed as the shaft 10 is being rotated, and when the speed of rotationof the actuating shaftlO is varied the speed of themotor 62 will beaccordingly varied to rotate the driven shaft 68 approximately insynchronism with the actuating shaft 10.

If the shaft 10 should be rotated in a counter clockwise direction asviewed from i V 1 below, the brushes 182 and 183 will make and saiddriven mechanism having rotary" notions, a circular element movable withsaid repeating device, a second circular elementmovable with said drivenmechanism, a contact afiixed to each of said circular elements, saidcontacts being arranged to engage "when the relative angular position ofsaid circular elements exceeds a predetermined amount, and a relaycontrolled by said contacts to modify the speed of said drivenmechanism.

2. A variable speed repeating. mechanism comprising in combination amotion transmitting mechanism, a driven mechanism con trolled thereby, arepeating device interposed between said transmitting mechanism and saiddriven mechanism, a substantially flat circular element operativelyconnected to said repeating mechanism, a second substantially fiatcircular member operatively connected to said driven mechanism andpositioned substantially parallel to said first named fiat member, acontact affixed to each of said flat members and arranged to close acircuit when the relative angular positions of said flat members exceedsa predetermined amount, and a relay included in said circuit andcontrolled by said contacts for modifying the speed of said drivenmechanism.

3. A variable repeating mechanism comprising in combination a motiontransmitting mechanism, a driven mechanism controlled thereby, arepeating device interposed between said mechanisms, said repeatingale-- vice and said driven mechanism havin rotary motions, an elementaffixed to saic repeating device, a second elementafiixed to said drivenmechanism, a contact fixed to each of said elements, said contacts beingarranged 'to engage when the relative angular position of said elementsexceeds a predetermined amount, and a. relay controlled by said contactsto modify the speed of said driven mechanism. a

' 4. In combination, a repeating mechanism including a transmitter, amotor adapted to be controlled by the transmitter, a repeater deviceinterposed between "the transmitter and the motor, means including apair of re lays for controlling the cnergization and direction ofoperation of said motor. means including a third relay for controllingthe speed of the motor, and means controlled by relative movement of themotor and repeater device for selectively controlling the encrgizationof each of the relays.

5'. In combination, a transmitter, a motor adapted to be controlled bythe transmitter, a repeater interposed between the trans mitter and themotor, a circuit for said'moi'dr including a source of current andreverse switching means, means including a relay opera-ble by apredetermined relative movement of the motor and repeater forcontrolling said switching means to operate the -.motor at asubstantially constant speed, and means including a second relayoperable upon further relative movement of the motor and repeater forvarying the speed of'the motor. v I Signed at New York, in the county ofNew York and State of New York, this 26th day of March, A. D. 1929. i

' ALBERT D. TRENOR.

